Today’s discussion is about writing a discussion post, so it’s gonna be like a meta-discussion? 😛 Anyway, DISCLAIMER : I’m not trying to be an expert blogger/writer (though I wish to) but I have an 8-months-worth of experience on writing discussion posts, so I thought I’d share them with you and convince you to write (or keep writing) discussion posts as well ♦ ♦ ♦

Discussion posts are my favorite of all kinds of posts. These are 6 reasons WHY you should 1) start writing discussions if you haven’t already, and 2) write more discussion posts than you already do 😛

(1) Discussion post is FUN to write. What is better than having the freedom to be geeky and express all your random thoughts? I could talk about a certain trope in books in 1500 words and people would actually read and respond to them. So. Rewarding. 😛

(2) It’s also fun to read ♥ Seriously, people love reading discussions even if the topic has already been discussed for like 50 other times before. It’s thought-provoking and I don’t know about you, but I love reading people’s opinions. Actually, you should too, we’re bloggers after all 😉

(3) You could talk about the same topic all over again. Like I said on point 2, you could write about something that has been repeatedly discussed and people (at least I) would still read it. Really, I’ve read +10 posts about love triangle in books and yet I’ll definitely check your post if you plan to write about it. Although, it won’t hurt to put your own spin or add something new to the discussion ♣

(4) Discussion posts receive the most traffic. Whoever say they don’t care about stats, they’re lying. At least to some extent 😛 bloggers do care about stats, no matter what we claim, and discussion post is some kind of a stats booster. Book-related discussion post is relatable to everyone who reads books.

Let’s say, you just read Twilight (!!!) and you want to talk about the love triangle or paranormal creatures in it. People might not read your review/discussion about Twilight because a) it’s so last year and b) most people have outgrown Twilight anyway. But if you talk about love triangle or paranormal creatures in general, people would surely read your posts, regardless whether they read Twilight or not.

So yes, discussion posts are for everyone.And the best thing about discussion posts is that people don’t just read it, they will most likely drop a comment and share their own opinions. Sooo discussion posts = + page views + likes + comments ♥

(5) Discussion sparks another discussion. People are responding to your thoughts and who knows, maybe you could turn their responses into another discussion in the future? That’s what I do. At the very least, you have something awesome to talk about with your followers. I mean, memes and tags also receive a lot of comments, but most of the times, the depth of the comments just aren’t the same.

(6) It makes your blog more original. I actually prefer blogs that not only post reviews/memes, but also original contents. Original contents tell me more about a blogger’s voice, preference, and personality than reviews/memes ever could. But relax, I have nothing against reviews/memes, I do them too!

OKAYYY, did I manage to convince you to start and/or keep writing discussions? If YES, let’s proceed to my tips and tricks. If NO… well, please keep reading anyway? 😛

Again, I’m gonna say that I’m not an expert. I’m actually really nervous about it because I don’t want people thinking I’m trying to be one :’) anyway, let’s get started. After 8 months of writing and reading a lot of discussion posts, I learned what works and what doesn’t ♦

Coming up with something totally original is almost impossible, but not unheard of. Original topic is great, but we could also write about something mainstream, because there’s always a way to put your own twists on it. For example, everyone could write about their bookish pet peeves, their favorite tropes, their favorite genres, etc, etc.

My two main sources of inspirations are books and other blogs. Just remember, be inspired but don’t copy 🙂 Generally, inspirations could come from everywhere. I’m a natural thinker, I think all the time, so every time inspiration strikes, I write down my ideas on my phone or notebook. You do have a blogging notebook, don’t you? 😛

TIPS :

Great ideas don’t always magically appear. Okay sometimes they do, but most of the times, you have to work on it. I do a lot of brainstorming to come up with a lot of ideas. Most of them are crappy and I don’t even use them, but for every 5 crappy ideas, there’s always a great one among them! ♥

For me, the topic has to be something interesting that people could relate to but haven’t been discussed too often. If you want to talk about something specific that only you feel/think/experience, that’s also fine, but it’ll be harder to get people to comment and share their own opinions.

Find ideas from twitter. Sometimes people throw around trivial questions like ‘what is your reading pet peeves?‘ and I decide to make the answers as complicated as possible : by creating a blog post about it.

It’s my blogging notebook, people 😛

Whoever says coming up with the idea is the hardest part is wrong, because really, actually writing the post is the main challenge. Basically, my difficulties are 1) having trouble to systematically deliver my points, and 2) language (I mean, English isn’t my native tongue after all). My #1 solution to this is to create an outline.

I figured that the best and easiest way to write discussion post is in a conversational tone. I write exactly like I talk and it’s a win-win because it’s easier for me and you’d feel like I’m talking to you when you read my post 😛 I guess it’s also important to find your voice, like, do you want to come across as humble? Snarky and sassy? Know it all? I try to be as humble and friendly as possible, but any style could work if you try ♥

It’s also important to figure out how you want to write your post. Do you make lists? Pros and cons? A bunch of long paragraphs? I found that lists and pros & cons work best for me and that’s what I usually do.

TIPS :

If you’re a super organized person like me, writing outline helps a lot. I write down all the points that I want to say, all the examples or proofs to support my points, and the other necessary stuffs.

My best discussion posts are the ones that I write ahead of time. That way, I have the time to let my ideas sink in and revise it if I come up with something to add. Rushing a post doesn’t work well for me.

Don’t be afraid of writing tough/controversial topics. If you find it difficult to deliver your points, take a break. Then start writing whatever you have in mind. They don’t have to be in perfect order, you can always go back to rearrange and edit everything later.

Make sure you leave a room for discussion. Don’t think that your opinion is the most accurate. Ask questions. Embrace different opinions. Don’t get annoyed if people disagree with you, unless they’re trolls whose sole purpose is to harass people’s opinions, then you can be annoyed and block them.

I actually don’t know the ideal post length, but I know that I probably won’t be patient enough to read a 3500 words post and won’t be interested enough to read a 400 words discussions. I read somewhere that the ideal post length for SEO is around 1500 words, so that’s what I usually strive for. Buuuut there are bloggers out there who could write a 2000++ words posts and I won’t be bored reading them! I think any length could work s long as you know how to keep it interesting 😉

TIPS :

Every time I come up with an idea, I ask myself whether I have enough things to say about it. If I have very little to say, I’ll just make a twitter thread. If I have too many things to say, I’ll break up my posts into 2-3 posts.

BREAK THE PARAGRAPHS. Unless it’s a novel, I’m in no way interested in reading some super long paragraphs. It’s just exhausting and not visually pleasing 😦

Using subheadings could really help to keep the readers’ focus and make the posts seem less boring. I personally use lots of subheadings and photos ♥

I know this is dull, but it’s essential 😛 as I said above, writing discussion is difficult. Proofreading helps to make sure that I manage to deliver all my points in the way I plan to. Besides, you do not want to find a lot of mistakes on your post after you hit publish. Basically here are the things I do during proofreading :

Check for spelling and grammar errors

Make sure each paragraph isn’t too long

Make sure I already cover all my points

Make sure my writing doesn’t come across as offensive, insulting, or condescending

Alrightyyy, those are reasons why you should write discussion posts and some of my tips and tricks! Keep in mind that it’s all part of my experiences and I’m not telling anyone how to run their blogs 🙂

LET’S TALK : What do you think makes a great discussion? What are your challenges in writing discussion posts? And if anyone has questions or more tips about writing discussion, feel free to share them! ♥

Great post! I don’t write many discussion posts, but I do read them, so this is great advice. I guess I worry about putting heaps of effort into discussion posts and not getting the hits and comments afterwards to make it worth it.

It’s been so long since I’ve written a discussion post, so thanks for inspiring to write more! They’re not fun for me to write, though. 😞 They’re usually stressful and take a long time for me to write, but you’re right that they bring a lot of traffic and they’re worth the effort. The conversations that spark from discussion posts make blogging worth it!

Lovee this post!! I enjoy reading discussion posts and I haven’t done any on my blog cause I come up with some idea and I just shut it down thinking that other bloggers might have already done them or it’s just silly:(
Reading your post has changed my mind about DP. Thank you for the great tips and tricks:D

YAAAY! THE POST IS OUT. I’ve been kind of stalking you a little bit waiting for it to come out ever since you told me about it and I must say, it’s 100% worth it! This is such a great meta-discussion ❤
I must say that you’re absolutely right on 1/ discussions are my absolute favorites to write and read, and 2/ they’re the absolute stats booster, my most viewed/liked /commented posts are discussions and some of my old ones still get traffic today (which blows my mind) whereas memes/tags are easily forgotten, although I love them too.
My writing style is conversational too (but you alreadu knew that 😂) and basically everything you mentioned applies to me so I won’t start siting them one by one. The only one for me is that I don’t outline them, I used to do it when I first started but realized that what works best for me is to wing it as I write 😂 and obviously writing ahead of time is a key element because otherwise I get stressed out and I don’t give as much as I would like to AND it’s no fun anymore.

WHOAAAA THIS MAKES MY DAY! 😛 thank you Fadwa 😀 exactly, discussion posts never get old and they keep bringing traffic. Ahh I wish I could be more like you because almost all my posts have to be thoroughly planned hahaha but that’s just who I am I get a bit stressed out if I don’t plan :’) Exactly! I’m almost never satisfied if I rush my posts 😦 and I love your discussion it’s fun to read (esp. your rant) hahaha ❤

This was a great discussion about discussions. DISCUSSIONCEPTION!
I love reading discussion posts because I can really feel the blogger’s personalities shining through and I love when people share opinions and give a different way to look at things. I personally don’t write too many because I struggle to come up with original topics. However, like you mentioned, I do love reading posts by bloggers even if it’s on the same topic because it’s interesting to see multiple views. This post has made me want to go write some discussions too 😛
Your blog post journal is really cute BTW!

DISCUSSIONCEPTION!! Sounds so much cooler than meta-discussion why didn’t I think of that??!! Hahaha 😛 exactly, I always enjoy reading discussion posts regardless the topics. Ahh I wish this posts will inspire you to write more discussion posts! 😀 see? Any topics could be great if done right! ❤

This is such a good and well thought out discussion post with lots of tips and tricks 😊 Discussion are by far some of my favourite posts too like and as you’ve mentioned it does bring quite a lot of traffic with it 😊 Totally agree that it should be well thought out and something you’re passionate about! Passion easily translates into something extraordinary 💖

Great post! I try to have one discussion post per week, but it’s hard. Coming up with ideas or enough content for those ideas is challenging. It is interesting though where my ideas come from. Many are unexpected – prompted by my reading or other blog posts. You’re right though, discussion posts do get the most pageviews. I need to try to get more of them on to my blog.

Thank you! 😀 I feel youuuuu I post discussion 1-2 times a week and it does take a lot of energy to come up with the ideas and actually writing the posts, but since they’re fun and bring a lot of traffic, I’d say it’s worth the effort 😛

Brilliant post, Puput! I admire all your discussion posts soooo much. And your English is probably better than mine so don’t worry about that ♥ I really want to incorporate more on my blog, but I struggle with them so much. I can never think of any ideas and then trying to make my thoughts coherent is so hard. These are some wonderful tips though and I’ll definitely be taking them on board 😀

Ahhh thank you so much Lauren! ❤ well I'm afraid that's not possible hahaha though I'm sort of pretty proud of my English?haha been learning since I was in kindergarten 😛 you should!! I enjoyed your discussion posts as well 😀 but yeah I feel you, putting together a coherent post is the hardest part for me, like I know what I want to say but putting it into words turns out to be a lot harder </3 Yayy I hope they're helpful! 😀

OH YES I LOVE THIS! And I agree with it all *nods* I really really love reading discussions…more so than reviews heheh. Because like with reviews it’s easier to be interested/care if you’ve either read the book or want to read the book. Whereas discussion posts are more open to ANYONE joining in and putting forth an opinion, because they’re more open? I love that!🎉 Plus it’s a chance to be creative and fun and discover your voice *nods* I also highly agree with broken up paragraphs, different sized fonts and bold vs italiced vs fonts changes…just to keep it interesting and exciting.😂 Also I’M SO RELIEVED to know that a good post length is 1,500! Because that’s where a lot of mine are these days and I always feel like I ramble too much. HA I’M DOING IT RIGHT.😂 (Well sort of … shhhh. Just let me live in my delusion.😜)

This is SUCH a wonderful post, thank you for sharing this! I love discussion posts so much, they allow us to talk more and more about books and definitely start a great conversation with other bloggers, and this is THE BEST. Also, I don’t think there’s a right rule for the length of a blog post, but maybe I’m just saying that because I am rambling A LOT most of the time? Hahaha. As long as the blogger and the post keeps me interested, it doesn’t matter if it’s 700 words or 5000 😀

You’re so welcome! 😀 discussions are the best though I admit coming up with fresh ideas are exhausting sometimes 😛 me too, I think as long as the bloggers know how to keep it interesting, the length won’t actually matter! 😀

I love this post! I always enjoy your discussions so it’s awesome that you wrote a bit of advice on the topic. I love writing discussions post but almost never have the time or ideas to actually write one. I think I end up doing about one a month. Last month I did a love triangle one so I definitely agree that you could discuss the same topics over and over. It helps that each of us have such different opinions about a lot of things. Seriously though I wish I could do more discussion posts because they are fun and creative. When I first started my blog I had so much extra time and did one a week, now not so much. Either way, I’ll definitely keep a lot of your tips in mind. Great post as always! 💕

Awww thank you so much! 😀 exactly, I admit that coming up with the ideas and actually writing the post do take a lot of effort haha I know right!! Yayy I hope my tips could be helpful and can’t wait to read more of your discussion posts! ❤

You’re welcome!! 😊
They really do. I used to do one every Thursday and coming up with new ideas each week was tough. Not to mention the time it took to get it just right lol.
Hopefully I have some up in the future. I have a short one drafted but haven’t had to time to finish it because of essay writing this past week.

Thanks for writing this! It’s honestly so helpful. I feel like everyone writes these amazing discussions and I have all these ideas but no clue how to present them. I think I’ll have to write out a lot of drafts before I’m happy with them, but really glad I have more of a starting point now 😊